The shadow health secretary was forced to answer tough questions about Labour's manifesto, especially in relation to their spending.

Holmes began: "Your answer is spend, spend, spend – at least the Conservatives are trying to close the deficit."

However, Ashworth was quick to jump to the defence of his party, replying: "David Cameron and George Osborne would come on these shows and tell you they're going to close the deficit and guess what? They haven't."

"There will be more austerity and they're asking the most vulnerable in society to bear the brunt," he added.

Holmes was keen to hammer the point home though, telling Ashworth: "One man's invest is another man's spend.

Answering whether he thought the NHS was a "poison chalice", Ashworth was determined to make it known that the Labour party plans to invest £37 billion into the health service in return for hitting targets.

However it was at this point that co-host Hawkins was given her turn to grill the MP, questioning: "The problem is we look at the NHS in Wales which you've always had control of and the waiting lists there are humongous.

Although insisting that he has been clear with the figures, Hawkins was not finished and went on to demand Ashworth answer tough questions on the so-called "secret garden tax" which would see council tax replaced by a Land Value Tax on homes and gardens.

Hawkins insisted that it could see the average family's tax trebled, something that Ashworth labelled as "scaremongering".

Holmes tried to get a straight answer out of the Labour candidate, telling him not to "try and wriggle out of this", joking that his co-host is particularly invested because she has a "very big garden".

"She has a forest," Holmes cheekily added before calling time on the heated debate.